Understanding Stark
by DopamineLover
Summary: The Avengers don't seem to know too much about Tony Stark, and happen to be shocked by what they find out in a series of one-shots. No slash. Rated M because I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1: Arc Reactor

"Hey, Tony, come and watch the movie with us." Tony gets pulled out of his thoughts. He diverts his attention from getting coffee to see his teammates on the couch. That's new.

"We've got a movie on. Come join us. Call it team bonding," Steve says from his reclined position on the couch. Tony doesn't know what to say. He's never seen some of the most deadly people reclined on the couch in sweats. It's almost surreal. And he's not sure if he likes it. All he wanted to do was get coffee and then return to his lab.

"Uh, sure," Tony ends up replying as he sits on the couch next to Steve, abandoning his want for coffee. Guess his latest project will just have to wait.

"I'll get the lights," Bruce says, getting up. With the shades on the windows and the lack of artificial lighting, the room is quite dark. Except for the blue glow from Tony's chest that beautifully illuminates the room.

"Dude, why do you keep the suit battery on?" Clint asks.

Tony stops in his tracks. Does Clint really not know?

"We're not in battle. It finished a while ago, so you won't be needing the suit. I can't imagine the battery is comfortable to wear," Clint explains without joking. Tony, once again, is stunned. Tony looks around the room, hoping to find others on his team who know the truth. It's not like it's a secret. But Tony comes up with nothing. Every single one of them has a curious expression, directed at Tony. Well, all except Natasha, but she doesn't seem to be in the mood to correct Clint.

"Uh, no it's not comfortable." How would you like to have a metal tube in your chest. Do you know how hard it makes breathing? Or how painful hiccups are?

"So take it off. You don't need to be worried right now, Stark. The rest of us aren't in gear either," Cap says. Tony can't believe they don't know. His shocked expression moves from Steve to Bruce to Thor to Natasha and finally to Clint. Each one of them not backing down.

"I can only take it off for about one or two minutes tops. But I'd prefer not to."

"Wait, what'll happen if you take it off?" Clint asks. Tony really doesn't want to be doing this. Nope, he'd much rather be back in his lab with the coffee that he meant to get.

"Do you guys seriously not know? It's not like it's a secret. I mean, it's probably on my SHIELD file." Tony only gets shaking heads in response. He sighs and scrubs his face with his hands to prepare himself for the task ahead. "Well, the arc reactor's main purpose is as an electromagnet, basically. It is protecting my heart."

"From what?" Steve asks disbelieving.

"From shrapnel." The team's eyes go wide, except for Natasha's. She seems to be torn between listening and distracting herself.

"Why do you have shrapnel trying to enter your heart?" Steve asks.

"From a missile." The team's incredulous stares become more prominent. "Alright. How about I just give you guys the whole story."

"Back when Stark Industries was selling weapons, I went to a missile demonstration in Afghanistan. We were in Kunar Province and I was trying to get hot shots to buy the Jericho. Which, went pretty well if I may add, until we were set to leave back to base. The jeeps were attacked. There was an explosion and the soldiers with me were shot dead. The jeeps were being shot at. There was fire and a barrage of bullets. I had to get out. So I ran to the side of the road, took cover behind some rocks.

"That's when they sent a missile, literally with my name on it. And of course I knew what it could do, so I tried to run but... I was too late. The blast sent shrapnel through my bullet proof vest and I uh - blacked out."

Tony looks back at his team after staring a hole through the floor.

"So you still have the shrapnel trying to kill you at any moment?" Bruce asks.

"Yea. But I say it's more likely I'll get shot here by Legolas before I die of the shrapnel." The joke is lost on his still shocked teammates.

"So when did you get the arc reactor?" Clint asks. Wow. Did none of them read the briefings on each other?

"Actually, a - uh, a friend of mine created the first makeshift one out of a car battery. It was maybe a day or a few later once I woke up that I saw it hooked up in me."

"Wait. It's IN you?" Steve asks.

"Yea," Tony lifts up his t-shirt to see the arc reactor.

"The hell, Stark..." Clint says in awe. "That's in you 24/7?"

"Yep. One step closer towards being the Tin Man. It's really simple. There's a metal cylinder that's in my chest to wall in the reactor," Tony grabs the reactor and twists it out just a bit so that the wires can be seen. "And the reactor sits in it just like this," Tony says as he lowers the reactor and twists it back in. When he looks up with his shirt pulled down again, his team almost looks horrified.

"Don't - don't do that again," Steve says, shaken that Tony so carelessly pulled it out.

"Don't worry Capsicle, it wouldn't have been bad until a couple minutes time. Then we'd be in a pickle."

"Alright Stark, I retract what I said. Keep the thing in. I don't want to have to watch you die as shrapnel penetrates your heart." Tony's shocked by Clint's statement. No one, well, besides Pepper, has cared enough about his life like that. He almost didn't trust anyone after what Obie did. Tony shivers at the thought and lays his hand across the reactor. As if that alone will protect it from being stolen.

"Aww, glad to know you care Legolas. But let's watch the movie."

"I agree with the man of iron," Thor chimes in, finally coming to himself once again. "Let us watch the movie."

So the team spends half their time watching the movie and the other half glancing at Tony, still shocked at what they had learned. And Tony lets them do so. They need some reassurance that he really isn't going to drop dead at any moment. And that alone makes him feel loved.

 **Hey guys. I had this idea the other day that the team (pre-Ultron) doesn't know that much about Tony and just happen to learn some things along the way. I have a feeling I'll expand this into a few more chapters (a. Tony's time in Afghanistan, b. dying of palladium, c. Howard, d. Aunt Peggy, e. Jarvis, etc.), but know that this will be on the back burner to** "A Special Spider" **.  
Nevertheless, let me know what you think. Your comments make my day!**

 **Love,  
Dopamine Lover**


	2. Chapter 2: Aunt Peggy's Intro

"Tony, darling, please. It's so simple. Can't you do this for me?" Tony's Aunt Peggy Carter asks, standing in front of him in a much younger state.

"But... Aunt Peggy... you're not real. This can't be you," Tony says, his arm lowering in his heavy iron man suit, the blue light removed from his Aunt's face.

"Oh, Tony. I _am_ real. I'm here aren't I?" she smiles at him, opening her arms as if to gesture to herself.

What the heck is going on. What is Tony even doing here? What was he doing before this? Was he fighting someone? Is that why he has his armor on? And what is Aunt Peggy doing here? And how in the world did she become so young again?

"No. No. You're not real. Aunt Peggy is in the nursing home. She's happy, married, a mother, and _old._ You're not her and she can't be you. You're probably just some hologram," Tony declares, tension coming back into his form, his arm rising once again to have a weapon trained on this imposter. Right? Because this has to be an imposter?

"Oh, my darling," Peggy steps towards Tony, unfazed by the repulser trained on her face. "I'm not a hologram. I'm not one of your wonderful inventions. You always were so creative," she takes another step closer, Tony backing up to keep the same distance. "Tony," she chastises like when he was eight, "stop walking away from me, young man. I'm trying to show you I am real. Come on, hold my hand."

But Tony doesn't go to hold her hand. He just stares at her outstretched, non-shaking, non-wrinkled hand.

"Tony? Why are you so distant today? Was it something your father did?" she asks, and suddenly, Tony has a very bad feeling about this. Not that anything remotely good ever happened when his father was mentioned.

"Anthony..." a stern, enraged voice seethes behind him, and Tony knows exactly who it is despite these many years. Tony turns around very slowly, trying to keep himself from shaking, so as to face the voice. And he guessed right.

"Dad?" Oh no, why is he here?

"Is that fear I hear, Anthony? It better not be or so help me I will beat it out of you," his father snarls in front of him, teeth almost gnashing like a horse.

"No, sir," Tony says on command, not letting himself hesitate or say anything else.

"Well what type of bullcrap have you done today, huh? And what's all of this going to do to help Steve, huh? You lazy piece of shit! Think of how heroic Steve was! It's our job as Starks to find his freezing ass," Howard suddenly jumps into Tony's personal space, effectively frightening him as if he was a little kid once again.

"You are _worthless,_ Anthony," Howard slaps him across the face. "And I am _ashamed_ to have you as a son. Maybe I ought to teach you a lesson," Tony instinctively flinches, awaiting the hit of calloused knuckles to stomach, but it never comes. Squinting his eyes, Tony looks up to find Aunt Peggy shielding him from one of Howard's rages. Tony releases a deep breath. Aunt Peggy always takes care of him. She'll protect him.

"Tony," she turns around to face him, his father suddenly vanished. "Come here," she squats down to his level (when did he even go to his knees?) and opens up her arms, awaiting his hug. There's not even a moment of hesitation. Tony opens his arms, ready to envelope her in a bone crushing hug, just like she'd always do. And in this moment he feels as if everything will be alright again. That his father won't be so angry, and maybe he's still loved.

And then Tony watches as a fist collides with his honorary Aunt's head, only for an impact and blackness to envelope his own.

* * *

"Tony? Are you with us?" Tony hears a hazy voice call him. Ugh. Why does his head hurt so much?

Opening his eyes just a crack against the bright lights, Tony can only see some smudges. Some are black, one is purple, and another is red white and blue. Ah, must be his team. Tony grunts in response and brings his hand up to shield his eyes from the god-awful light so he can see them better. There we go, Cap, Widow, Hawkeye, and Banner. The usual Stark Tower residents.

"Tony? What's the last thing you remember?" Cap asks him. Huh. Good question. They were being briefed on some group of aliens that could shape shift, right? And they could manipulate your mind. Pleasant. Oh! And they were able to take full control of your mind when you touched them. Not when they touched you. You had to initiate the touch, sort of like a consent. Confusing, right?

"Uh, the briefing? Right? No, wait..." Didn't they actually begin to fight them too? And did they win?

"Did we win?" Tony asks Cap, very confused and wanting answers.

"Yes. But do you remember any of the fight?" Cap asks. Hmmm... think think think think think. OH!

"Oh yeah!" Tony snaps, face lighting up with the new memory. "I was fighting the one ugly and suddenly I was hit with vertigo," Tony's face falls. "And I think he whammied me. But I don't remember anything after that," Tony's face is now fully puzzled. "Why? What happened?"

Tony's worry only increases when his teammates look at each other as if having a wordless conversation.

"Tony, we uh-" Cap stumbles with his words, and now Tony knows he should be concerned. "We saw what you were seeing. The aliens, they uh- they changed shape and messed with everyone's head to get us to touch them. But Widow shook us out of it. And we saw what you were seeing..." Cap trails off, clearly uncomfortable with continuing.

"What? What was I seeing?" Tony asks, a little frustrated that everyone but him knows what he saw. And that they're not just spitting it out.

"We saw you with your Aunt and your father," Cap's face is contorted with sympathy and compassion, but it's not enough. It won't be enough.

"You saw Aunt Peggy and Howard," Tony breathes, confirming Steve's statement. "And you, Cap, are wondering how I know Peggy Carter?" Tony avoids the obvious question, unable to even voice the question, let alone an answer.

"That's one question," Steve nods, letting Tony ignore the elephant in the room.

"Well, she was great friends with my dad. They started SHIELD together, she was the first director. And so, she was prominent in my life," Tony says, pushing himself up off the unforgiving floor despite his heavy suit.

"I guess that makes sense," Steve says, looking off into the distance, probably seeing memories instead of their surroundings. And Tony takes advantage of it. Briefly looking at each of the other Avengers, he tries to ignore the pity and shock in their eyes. So he slams his face mask down.

"If you guys don't mind, I'm going to go take this suit off and then take a shower. Maybe jog my memory," Tony awfully excuses his escape before flying off to Stark Tower.

Maybe they'll ignore what they learned about Howard. Although, Tony's not quite sure what they know about him. But that's for another time.


End file.
